This poem was translated by Professor Carlo Coppola as part of the MULOSIGE Translations project. You can explore our collection of Urdu Poetry here.
Ṣabā vīrān / Sheba in Ruin
Solomon sits, head on knees
The land of Sheba is ruined
A haunted land, a heap of agony!
Without flower, without shrub
There, dry winds thirst for rain
Birds bend beaks under wings,
Men with parched gullets writhe!
.
Solomon sits, head on knees
Dour, sullen, with disheveled hair
Was cunning, might, the bounding of a deer?
Love, a flame’s sudden leap?
Desire, a rose without scent?
These are life’s ways
Speak no more of them.
.
Sheba is ruined
Nothing remains but marauders’ tracks
Neither Sheba nor her fair queen remain.
.
Solomon sits, head on knees
From where shall good fortune’s messenger come?
From where shall wine come for the cup of old age?
.
With M. H. K. Qureshi
.
From: Yāden̲ (Remembrances), 1963. pp. 168 – 69
Solomon sits, head on knees
The land of Sheba is ruined
A haunted land, a heap of agony!
Without flower, without shrub
There, dry winds thirst for rain
Birds bend beaks under wings,
Men with parched gullets writhe!
.
Solomon sits, head on knees
Dour, sullen, with disheveled hair
Was cunning, might, the bounding of a deer?
Love, a flame’s sudden leap?
Desire, a rose without scent?
These are life’s ways
Speak no more of them.
.
Sheba is ruined
Nothing remains but marauders’ tracks
Neither Sheba nor her fair queen remain.
.
Solomon sits, head on knees
From where shall good fortune’s messenger come?
From where shall wine come for the cup of old age?
.
With M. H. K. Qureshi
.
From: Yāden̲ (Remembrances), 1963. pp. 168 – 69
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